Sunday, 2 March 2014

against voting Yes in the Scottish Referendum.

Against voting Yes in the Scottish Referendum.

Why not just vote no?

The Westminster government has systematically attacked the worst off in society and that will not change with any of the Westminster parties. Indeed the point is it will not change through any political party. Social change can only come from below.

Okay, then why shouldn't we vote yes?

We should have no faith in either Better Together or any of the pro-Independence side.
The referendum narrows the debate down to where the working class and oppressed should be ruled from, instead of questioning rulership itself and distracts us from asking which kind of society we should be working for.

The SNP do not represent a progressive option. They favour lowered corporation tax and neo-liberalism. Do not be fooled. They're really Tartan Tories. You only have to look at their centralisation of the police force with the claimed purpose of 'improve effectiveness'. Would Trident necessarily be scrapped if the Scottish Government chooses to remain in Nato?

The referendum debate hinges on a number of false assumptions:-

That nation is a meaningful concept. It is not. It's only a label for a group who happen to find themselves in a shared geography arbitrarily decided by the state over the course of history. People are ultimately divided by class not by nations. Much better to 'betray your country' than your class.

Ideas of 'national unity and 'national interest'. The concept of a national interest is class collaborationist. It implies the working class and the oppressed have similar interests to the oppressors and capitalist class. They DO NOT. They are directly opposed. This debate puts nation before class and the status of the oppressed. There is no such thing as 'good nationalism'. Even nationalism which isn't xenophobic or racist obscures the class struggle. There is a risk of stirring up national hatred, of provoking "my country right or wrong" sentiment .

That the state can be used for the benefit of everyone. In reality, the state always protects those who are oppressive particularly the capitalist class i.e. bosses, landlords, bankers and corporations etc. The state is rule only by the few. The state is by definition an undemocratic institution. The state only throws the working class and the oppressed breadcrumbs to pacify us.

The Tories will never get in power again. While it is unlikely, it's not impossible. There are conservative voters.

"this time it'll be different".
The excuse they always use to trick us just s we are shrugging off belief in representative democracy, politicians and political parties for a world in which everyone directly decides on their own lives and how society is organized. Why should we trust any politician or political party? Even if the best were elected they would be ignored, forced by the necessity of satisfying the market economy to bend to it's wishes or killed like Salvador Allende in Chile.

Better democracy at 'home'. Whether government is at Westminster or in Scotland is irrelevant. Power is only exercised through governments not by them. The real power in society and in the world lies with the oppressors such as the capitalist class domestically and internationally. Real power lies with multinational corporations and organisations like the IMF,the WTO and the World Bank. It is not merely Westminster which prevents Scotland being a better society. The way the world is organized at present prevents us all living in a better world.

When the referendum is over, the oppressed can heave a sigh of relief. The referendum debate represents a debate between different degrees of kinds of capitalism.Neither Scottish Independence nor the election of a new politician or political party will change that. Most of the No side lean more towards private capitalism while those on the Yes side lean more towards state capitalism. .

Neither Scottish Independence nor the election of a new politician or political party will end the massive institutional systematic oppression, inequality and exploitation within Scotland and across the world. The problem stems not from politicians or parties but from the system itself.

Real Change can only come from the empowerment of ordinary people, from the oppressed defeating their oppressors, from people having direct control over their lives.

What should we do instead?Don't vote. Organize. expose the illusions of both the Yes and No sides.

Don't give away control of your life. Exercise what you power have and work for the creation of a society in which everyone gets to decide to how to run their lives collectively. Work for a society that benefits the many not the few.

Work to create co-operatives, develop community grassroots democracy, strengthen trade unions without union bureaucrats but run democratically by the rank and file. Resist oppression anywhere and everywhere.

Work for the end of all oppression and hierarchy and for a society in which democracy is grassroots, in which NEED not GREED takes precedence.

the problem is not WHO is in power but that there is someone in power at all .Neither London nor Holyrood Rule !